The present invention relates generally to devices having encoded images and, more particularly, to a decoder for viewing images formed from encoded images. The invention also relates to slide puzzles comprising decoding lenses which superpose encoded images.
Lenticular lenses affixed to respective substrates bearing respective lens-resolvable linear-patterned encoded images are commercially available. The lines from the patterned image must be in alignment with the lenticules of the lenticular lens in order to form a readily viewable resolved image. Known lenticular lens/patterned image-bearing substrate combinations have generally met this requirement by permanently affixing the substrate directly onto the back of the lenticular lens or by directly printing the patterned image onto the back of the lenticular lens.
Such substrates in combination with lenticular lenses are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,488,452 to Goggins, 5,568,313 to Steenblik et al., 5,543,964 to Taylor et al., 5,461,495 to Steenblik et al., 4,935,335 to Fotland, 4,082,433 to Appledorn et al., 3,937,565 to Alasia, 3,538,632 to Anderson, 3,119,195 to Braunhut
While known lenticular lens-containing promotional items provide a user entertainment and provide some degree of interaction, they can be further improved by increasing the level of interaction such as by letting the user properly align the lenticules of the lenticular lens with the lines of a linear-patterned image of a puzzle.
Puzzles comprising a plurality of unencoded image-bearing pieces have been known for centuries. The pieces generally have unique shapes which can be assembled in a unique manner to form an assembled image. The puzzle pieces heretofore have always borne an image portion that was readily viewable and discernible.
Thumb puzzles, or slide puzzles, comprising plural unencoded image-bearing pieces assembled in a frame have been known for decades. Such puzzles have generally comprised plural slidable pieces each of which bears an unencoded readily viewable and discernible image portion. When the pieces are assembled in an appropriate manner, a coherent unencoded readily viewable and discernible image is formed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,418 to Gilbert et al. discloses a slide puzzle having a transparent first image plane superposing a second image plane. The first image plane comprises plural slidable transparent first tiles several or all of which bear sections of a first image. The second image plane comprises an image bearing sheet or plural slidable second tiles several or all of which bear sections of a second image.
Other slide puzzles shaped as cubes, planes, cylinders or polygonal structures are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,904, No. 5,470,065, No. 5,267,732, No. 5,116,053, No. 5,074,561, No. 4,949,969, No. 3,829,101, No. 5,529,301, No. 4,872,682, No. 4,269,414, No. 4,097,049, No. 5,060,948, No. 4,927,150 and No. 4,422,641. However, none of these prior art puzzles incorporate sliding pieces that are actually decoding lenses that decoding encoded images which they superpose.
Thus, to date, there has been no puzzle available for momentarily aligning plural decoding lenses with corresponding encoded image portions on a substrate to form an unencoded and preferably assembled image. It is an object of the invention to provide such a method and apparatus.
The present invention provides an encoded-image viewer and puzzle that can be used to view one or more of a variety of encoded images with one or more decoding lenses. The apparatus of the invention is simple to use, inexpensive to manufacture and can be used to view almost any lens resolvable or decodable image.
The present invention seeks to overcome the disadvantages known in the art of puzzles and encoded image viewers and to provide a puzzle or decoder for viewing encoded images whereby one or more decoding lenses are slidable or movable with respect to a substrate bearing an encoded image which comprises one or more encoded image portions. When a decoding lens is properly aligned with an encoded image portion on the substrate, a readily viewable decoded or unencoded image is formed.
In one aspect, the invention provides a puzzle or viewer for viewing and decoding an encoded image, said viewer comprising:
a substrate bearing an encoded image on a first surface, wherein said encoded image comprises one or more encoded image portions;
a body having opposing first and second surfaces and a receptacle for at least one of receiving and retaining said substrate;
one or more decoding lenses superposed said substrate for decoding said one or more encoded image portions on said substrate; and
a first retainer for retaining said one or more decoding lenses with said body.
One or many different lens-resolvable encoded images can be viewed with the viewer of the invention. A single encoded image or image portion can form one or more corresponding assembled images according to the pattern employed.
The retainer of the puzzle or viewer of the invention can be integral with or attached to the body and/or the decoding lenses. Various types of retainers as described herein are contemplated by the invention. The decoders and puzzles of the invention can also comprise one, two, three or more retainers.
The substrate used in the viewer or puzzle of the invention can be made permanent or semipermanent and can be replaceable or removable.
In some embodiments of the invention, the puzzle or viewer will comprise a bypass portion wherein one or more decoding lenses or puzzle pieces can be inserted. The bypass portion can be attached to or be integral with the body of the viewer or puzzle.
Another embodiment of the invention provides an encoded image puzzle decoder capable of forming a decoded image from a lens-resolvable encoded image disposed on a substrate, said puzzle decoder comprising:
one or more decoding lenses each of which has a front and a rear surface;
a substrate bearing on an upper surface a lens-resolvable encoded image comprising one or more lens-resolvable encoded image portions;
a body having a receptacle for at least one of receiving and retaining said substrate; and
a retainer associated with at least one of said body and said one or more lenses for retaining said one or more lenses with said body;
wherein said one or more lenses superpose said receptacle and said upper surface of said substrate and each one of at least two of said one or more lenses decodes a different one of said plural lens-resolvable encoded image portions.
In another aspect, the invention is a substrate bearing plural lens-resolvable encoded image portions wherein each of at least two of said image portions is disposed such that either at least two different lenses or at least two different lens orientations are required to decode said each of at least two of said image portions.
The viewer of the present invention can also be used to simultaneously decode plural encoded images thereby forming plural decoded images. Thus, the invention also provides a hand-held viewer for simultaneously decoding plural encoded images comprising:
one or more decoding lenses each having a front and rear surface and a plurality of lenticules disposed on at least one of said surfaces; and
plural substrates each having a front surface bearing an encoded image;
said one or more lenses superposing said front surfaces of said plural substrates, said front surfaces of said plural substrates being adjacent said rear surfaces of said one or more lenses, and each of said one or more lenses being alignable with at least one of said plural substrates to form plural decoded images.
Another embodiment of the invention provides a viewer for viewing and decoding an encoded image on a surface wherein said encoded image comprises one or more encoded image portions, said viewer comprising:
an encoded image comprising one or more encoded image portions;
a body having an interior surface defining an open or sealed cavity wherein said body has at least one viewing port through which said encoded image and contents of the cavity can be viewed; and
one or more decoding lenses retained by and disposed within the cavity of said body;
wherein said one or more decoding lenses can superpose said encoded image thereby forming a decoded image.
The viewing port of the viewer or puzzle of the invention is intended to permit a user to view the contents of the puzzle. The viewing port can be made of a transparent or translucent material covering or being adjacent an opening in the body of the viewer. The viewing port can also comprise a decoding lens.
According to the particular construction employed for the viewer, it can be collapsible, rigid, semi-rigid or flexible. The viewer of the invention can also comprise one, two, three or more viewing ports and one, two, three or more decoding lenses.
Yet another embodiment of the invention provides a puzzle or viewer comprising:
a body having an exterior surface and an interior surface defining a cavity;
one or more substantially planar puzzle pieces disposed within said cavity and retained by said body wherein said one or more puzzle pieces can be assembled to solve said puzzle; and
one or more viewing portions disposed on said body through which said one or more puzzle pieces are viewable.
It is not necessary that the decoding lens employed in the puzzle or viewer of the invention comprise more than one piece, although it can comprise more than one different decoding lens portion. A puzzle according to the invention can comprise one or more puzzle pieces which themselves independently comprise one or more decoding lenses, encoded images, unencoded images, holographic images, image-bearing members, disc-shaped members, hidden images and combinations thereof.
Also according to the construction employed, a puzzle according to the invention can have an encoded or unencoded image borne on a substrate within a cavity of the puzzle, a substrate external to the cavity of the puzzle, or on an interior surface of a cavity in the puzzle.
Still another embodiment of the invention provides a viewer for viewing an encoded image comprising:
a body having a first surface;
an encoded image comprising one or more encoded image portions superposing said first surface of said body;
at least one decoding lens superposing said encoded image; and
a retainer for retaining said at least one decoding lens in slidable relation to and with said body.
The viewer of the invention can include a body which comprises one, two or more substantially cylindrical portions which are superposed by an encoded image and which encoded image is superposed by at least one decoding lens that can slide radially or longitudinally with respect to the cylindrical portion. When the body comprises two or more cylindrical portions, they will generally be coaxial and radially rotatable with respect to one another and generally have approximately the same circumference. As well the substantially cylindrical portion can be adapted to permit movement of one or more decoding lenses from one cylindrical portion to another cylindrical portion.
A decoder of the invention having cylindrical portions can also include a retainer comprising two or more radially spaced members or two or more longitudinally spaced members.
Some aspects of the invention include a combination decoding lens comprising two or more different decoding lenses independently selected from the group consisting of a lenticular, fresnel, color filtering, light filtering, diffusing, focusing, spheric, aspheric, and image altering lenses.
Another embodiment of the invention provides a puzzle comprising:
a substantially planar body;
plural image-bearing puzzle pieces disposed adjacent one another in a substantially planar arrangement, the pieces being slidable with respect to one another and said body and each piece having a first side adjacent the body and an opposing second side;
a retainer which keeps the puzzle pieces adjacent the body and in proximity to one another;
a first image comprising first image portions, said first image portions disposed on said opposing side of said puzzle pieces; and
a second image comprising second image portions disposed on said first side of said plural puzzle pieces;
wherein said body has at least one viewing portion through which at least one of said first image portions can be viewed.
The viewing portion can comprise one or more decoding lenses and can be used to decode an encoded image on the first side of the puzzle pieces. The viewing portion can also comprise a translucent or transparent element which will permit viewing of a first unencoded image or encoded image on the puzzle pieces. The decoding lenses of the invention can comprise two, three or more different decoding lens portions.
Another embodiment of the invention provides a combination puzzle independently comprising two, three or more of any of the puzzles described herein. The two, three or more individual puzzles that comprise a combination puzzle can be disposed back to back, back to front, front to back, side to side, top to bottom and bottom to top. The two or more puzzles can be the same or different and they can be connected to form a three-dimensional object such as a cube, pyramid, rhombohedron, sphere, ellipsoid, hyperboloid, paraboloid, diamond, any geometric form and combinations thereof.
In another aspect, the invention is an improved slide puzzle comprising plural sliding pieces disposed within a retainer, the improvement comprising using at least one decoding lenses as a sliding piece and placing an encoded image or encoded image portion on a surface within the retainer such that a decoded image is formed when the decoding lens superposes the encoded image. In this aspect, the puzzle can be shaped substantially as any known slide puzzle, for example, as a plane, cube, sphere, pyramid, polyhedron, cylinder, or polygonal structure. One or more faces or surfaces of the puzzle will bear a sliding piece which is a decoding lens. Also, one or more faces or surfaces of the puzzle will bear an encoded image or encoded image portion which the decoding lens can superpose to form a decoded image.
Other features, advantages and embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by the following description, accompanying examples and appended claims.